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Sunday, December 24, 2017

Somehow another year has come and GONE! Christmas is TOMORROW!!?! :) To get into the spirit I'm sharing this healthy snack platter I made for the girls. This is a VERY simple and EASY Christmas Snack Idea. Just cutting up and putting out vegetables means they will get eaten... or at least nibbled on ;) With all the holiday sweets around I've been trying to remind my kids (and myself ha!) that we can't just eat sweets and a dose of veggies is good for the body! :)

To make this Cucumber Christmas Tree all you will need is cucumbers and bell peppers! You can be creative and use more vegetables, but I prefer to use what my kids will actually eat vs what might look prettier ;) Adding some gorgeous purple cauliflower and red radishes would look gorgeous! ....But they won't get eaten here -- and I hate to waste food. But if your family will eat it -- make your tree with different veggies!

All you need to do is slice up some cucumbers, arrange like a tree then decorate with slices of bell pepper! I hand cut that yellow bell pepper star, but if you have a mini star cookie cutter that will work perfect! The best part is that your kids can make it and decorate their own trees!

And if you are traveling, or like to celebrate Christmas all week long, you could also make a fun Rudolph lunch! I've been meaning to share this cute lunch I made Eliana a few years ago (I have recreated this lunch a few times, but took a MUCH better picture the first time haha)

In her Planetbox lunchbox she had another kind of Cucumber Christmas Tree! This time I used cucumber slices, and carved them with a knife to resemble a tree. I added a carrot star and stuck them all together with a toothpick.

She also had a Rudolph Sandwich (bread crusts for the antlers, mini chocolate chips for the eyes and a nut free Hershey-et for his nose. You can use honey to "glue" the pieces together), vanilla yogurt with festive Christmas Sprinkles and two peppermint chocolate pretzels (made with pretzels dipped in melted chocolate topped with crushed candy canes). I added a few more red Hershey-ets in the treat section :)

While the lunch looks detailed, it really didn't take that long -- and the Rudolph sandwich was SO simple to make! I've remade it many times and she loves it every time!

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

St. Patrick's day is TOMORROW! March is flying by! I say it every year, but the month of March is one of our favorite months in our family. It is Eliana's birthday month (She just turned EIGHT on Monday!!! I seriously cannot believe I have an eight year old!) and since she was due on St. Patrick's Day we tend to go all out for the holiday!

These lunches were simple to make and Eliana LOVED them all! I love making fun lunches especially around holidays. I know she enjoys opening up her lunchbox and seeing her fun lunch. All of these lunches are simple to make with little to no cookie cutters or special lunch tools. I really only used one shamrock cookie cutter and some heart cutters, but even then you could use what you have in your house and either cut out the shapes with a knife or scissors. All of these lunches were also packed in our Planetbox Rover Lunchbox.You can see our fun St. Patrick's Day School lunches from previous years HERE and HERE.

Shamrock Lunch:

This lunch was so simple to make! Eliana had popcorn (We love Skinny Pop Popcorn), the Ireland Flag made out of fruit (kiwi slices, apple decorated with cucumber details, and clementine slices), a shamrock sandwich, mini cucumber slices, and Enjoy Life Foods mini chocolate chips. To make her shamrock sandwich I used a heart cutter and made three mini heart sandwiches and used a piece of bread crust for the stem.

Leprechaun Lunch:

We always enjoying making at least one Leprechaun lunch every year! Eliana had mini cucumber slices, a fruity rainbow (strawberries, clementines, pineapple, green grapes, blueberries), a Leprechaun sandwich, goldfish crackers, and Enjoy Life Foods mini chocolate chips. To make the Leprechaun sandwich I made her sandwich with a circle cutter (you could easily use a rim of a glass). I used a pair of scissors and knife to make his hat out of spinach tortilla, provolone and cheddar cheese. His face is cheddar cheese with mini chocolate chips. To make everything stay in place you can use edible "glue": a dab of honey, wowbutter or sunbutter (or any nut butter if no allergies), or cream cheese. You can also place a folded cloth napkin over the face and close it shut. For the most part the napkin will hold most of the face together, while the "glue" will hold the rest!

Leprechaun Hat Lunch:

This was one of Eliana's favorite lunches! She had rainbow bell pepper slices, cucumber and carrot rounds, a Leprechaun hat quesadilla, popcorn and a wee bit of Lucky Charms cereal. To make the Leprechaun hat I used scissors and cut the spinach tortilla. You can use a dab of honey or cream cheese to "glue" the hat details (provolone and cheddar cheese).

All Green Lunch:

In this lunch Eliana had green in every compartment! I literally threw this lunch together in minutes right before rushing to the bus stop. She had sliced Granny Smith Apple (sprinkled with Fruit-Fresh
so they wouldn't brown), Green Grapes, Shamrock quesadillas made with spinach tortillas, sliced mini cucumbers and a wee bit of Lucky Charms cereal packed in her Planetbox. This lunch would be a perfect lunch for a green day lunch too!

Extra Lucky Lunch:

In this lunch I packed Eliana a Leprechaun Hat, rainbow fruit (strawberry, clementine, pineapple, kiwi and blueberries), a shamrock sandwich (made with bread and topped with a spinach tortilla), and popcorn. Inside the little green container I put some Lucky Charms cereal for extra luck :) This lunch I gave to her ON St. Patrick's Day. It was so simple and quick to make and she ate it all up!

I also sent these fun and simple Green Fruit Kebobs into Eliana's classroom for their "Green Day" snack! They absolutely loved them!

I cut kiwi and Granny Smith Apples and put them on these cute little picks that I let the kids keep. Last year I made the kebobs with green grapes too (See more detail on the kebobs HERE.) Samantha was very determined on being able to help out... and by help I mean eat and "accidentally" drop pieces to our dog ;)

ALL of these lunches were truly simple to make without any special tools or cutters! We will also be making some healthy St. Patrick's Day snacks for tomorrow too!

For MORE St. Patrick's Day Fun Food Ideas Click HERE :)Do YOU like to make fun St. Patrick's Day lunches?

Friday, January 15, 2016

Happy 2016! I had meant to share this cute snack before the break, but I got sick - so I'm sharing it now. Considering We JUST took down our Christmas decorations it still works! I was sick all winter break, so I have no problem extending the holiday cheer well into January! (Yes, I'm that person that would keep up the Christmas lights until February..)I'm happy to start off the year with this fun snack and review of the latest bento book: Yummy Kawaii Bento: Preparing Adorable Meals for Adorable Kids.

I first need to congratulate my friend Ming from bentomonsters.com. She makes the most incredibly detailed bento and fun food creations and I am always in constant awe of everything she makes! She is such a talented food artist; every plate is such a work of art!Her book is absolutely AMAZING and also where I got the inspiration for the penguin snack!

Yummy Kawaii Bento: Preparing Adorable Meals for Adorable Kids
has SO many fun bento ideas. There are over 70 bento and food art recipes, and then (to my surprise) there were over 60 FOOD recipes (I can't wait to try the chicken Teriyaki, the Veggie Pork/Beef rolls, and the lemon chicken!) There are step by step instructions AND picture tutorials for everything. If you love cute food, and are interested in trying out bentos this is a must have book. Literally a bento "bible". Everything you need to know to on how to begin, where to start, how to naturally color rice (I NEEDED this!), how to make egg sheets, how to make steamed cakes, what bento tools to get, and even explanations and descriptions of all the bento boxes and tools you could get. Along with the step by step instructions and picture tutorials you will be able to recreate these bentos easily!I loved all the chapters, but I did love the bread-based bentos chapter best. I typically make my lunches with bread, so I'm glad there was a whole chapter of fun ideas we can get inspiration from!

I made our cute penguin snack, inspired by one of the Penguin Sandwich in the book. I decided to make it into a snack and the girls enjoyed it after school! Here is a sneak peek of the pages, so you can see how detailed the instructions are, and how great the picture tutorials are (for every bento/fun food plate!)

I didn't have blueberries, so I used mini chocolate chips as the eyes. But that is just another way to show how you can easily substitute other ingredients if need be!Both of the girls have LOVED going through the pages and picking what we will make next. Eliana, who has never really cared for rice bentos, has now showed a sudden interest in making them after she looked through everything - So I guess we will be trying some new ideas this year!Again, I highly recommend this book -- You will have ALL the information you ever need to start and make bentos! I am so happy for you Ming! Congratulations on your book!! We loved the book and look forward to making your recipes!

Friday, December 18, 2015

I am honored to be a part of the Fresh Kids Advent Calendar Campaign this year! Each day of the advent calendar they are sharing a fun food plate and also highlighting different charities to encourage connecting and giving back to your community! There have been some amazing fun food plates so far. I have truly enjoyed seeing them every day. My fun snowman plate started off the advent calendar -- be sure to check him out HERE!

For today I made this cozy pretzel log cabin! For me, one of the best part of the holidays is staying nice and warm inside while watching the snow fall outside. I am not a fan of cold. Or snow. But I do find it beautiful to look at! My pretzel log cabin is paired with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Boys and Girls Clubs annually serve nearly 4 million young people, through membership and community outreach and different programs world wide.

To make this log cabin I used FreshKids Pretzel Stix and placed them on top of wowbutter so they wouldn't stick to the plate. The decorations on the house are made of cucumber, cheese and bell better Christmas lights. To top it off we have popcorn snow! This was fun to make, and both my kids were amazed! -- but be sure to use wowbutter, or any "nut" butter to hold down the pretzels. Otherwise they will all roll off the plate! :)